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Re: [St] November - Europe Trip.



On 22 Jul 2008, at 01:31, sprintst_2002@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

We will be travelling light but cant do all this trip on a bike - though I'd love to.. In London, I expect a 1 day ride, get the bike early, head off to Windsor castle or Henly on Thames (?) or similar, show Mae a bit of the very green countryside.

I live mid-way between Windsor and Henley, and while both are great places to visit I'd not put either as good destinations for a bike ride from London. Both are almost certainly easier by train from London (unless you have a penchant for lane-splitting, dodging aggressive taxi drivers and the joys of the M4 motorway coming out of West London): Windsor especially is about 30 minutes from London on the train, and the castle is just a short walk from the train station there.


Somewhere a few hours ride out of London, lunch then head back, find a bike friendly night spot, ( or similar ) then return the bike the following morning.

If you want green & pleasant views, interesting riding and places to stop for lunch, I'd suggest you consider either


1) dropping down south from London towards Dorking (where you can call in at Box Hill if it is a weekend) and on down towards a place called Billingshurst - where you can join the A272 and head West. Petworth (home of "Petworth Place" which is a great big country house to call in on - classic Brit pile of gentrified rubble. The family were so rich the 'owned' the village outside their estate... ) (if it is open - many places like that close in Winter). Then you are well placed to head west on the A272 - a fairly good biking road that goes through a lot of countryside. If you have the motivation, the 272 will take you all the way to Winchester: a good place to stop for lunch and look around (Cathedral, Museum, Tea shops, places to buy jumpers etc.). Then you can drop onto the M3 motorway and blast back to London after your stop.

2) Pick up the A40 out of London (heads roughly NE) and follow that towards Oxford. At start of the M40 motorway drop off the motorway onto the A40 (at Denham) and follow the A road. This takes you through a series of classic english coaching towns and further out into the countryside. At Stokenchurch the A40 drops of the edge of the Chilterns and the road goes nice and twisty down the hill (on a weekend you'll see plenty of people simply riding up and down this bit of road - I think up is better... ). Once off the Chilterns the A40 will take you right past a Triumph dealer (Hughendon M40). At this point you can either carry on towards Oxford (great place for lunch - dreaming spires etc.) or (my preference) turn right and head off towards Thame and Aylesbury. A bit of map / GPS work can bring you out at Waddesdon - where you can look at/around another classic english country house (Waddesdon Manor - home of the Rothschild banking family). Turn right along A41 (towards Aylesbury) and you can pass in short order a Ducati dealer and (the other side of Aylesbury) another Triumph dealer - both worth a visit. Then simply follow the A41 back towards Watford: along the way you can pick up the M25 / M1 to get you back into London.

Hope this helps.

As for a place to go of an evening, there is always the ACE Café (ace- cafe-london.com) which is just North of the A40 (on a well signed road called 'the north circular / a406').

Regards

Gavin Lawrie
ST'03

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